Gustavo Menezes

Gustavo Soiblemann Menezes (born 19 September 1994) is an American-Brazilian racing driver.

Early career

Karting Menezes began karting in 2001, and took his first championship in 2005 in the IKF Region 7 Sprint - HPV 1 Cadet. He additionally won the SKUSA SuperNationals in both the 2003 and 2004 editions. In 2007, he was the Stars of Tomorrow Juniors champion. In 2008, he began karting outside the United States. In Asia he competed in the CIK-FIA Asia-Pacific Championship becoming fifth in the championship in 2008. That same year, Carlos Sainz, Jr. won the championship. In Europe, he competed in championship in among others Monaco, Sweden and Belgium. He competed in the world karting championship from 2009 to 2010, but he started his single-seater career in 2011.

German Formula Three In 2013, Menezes competed in the German Formula Three. He drove the full season with Van Amersfoort Racing and won two races. He became fourth in the championship with 241 points.

American Le Mans Series/United SportsCar Championship

Menezes began his endurance racing career in 2013, driving for RSR Racing in the American Le Mans Series in the Prototype Challenge class. He only entered the Petit Le Mans with co-drivers Bruno Junqueira and Duncan Ende and finished 29th overall and sixth in class.

Both in 2014 and 2015, Menezes competed again with RSR Racing and again in the Prototype Challenge class. In those two seasons he entered three races. In 2014 he only entered the 24 Hours of Daytona, but he and his co-drivers were unable to finish and were classified in a disappointing 63rd position. In 2015, he entered the first two races of the season: the 24 Hours of Daytona, where he finished 34th overall and fourth in class, and the 12 Hours of Sebring, where he finished 31st overall and sixth in class.

FIA European Formula 3 Championship After he had finished fourth in the championship in the German Formula Three, Menezes graduated to the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in 2014 and drove again with Van Amersfoort Racing. He finished 11th in the championship and managed to take two third-place finishes at Spa-Francorchamps. In 2015, he joined Jagonya Ayam with Carlin.

Sportscar career (2016-) Following a test at Bahrain near the end of 2015, Menezes signed for Signatech-Alpine to compete in the LMP2 category of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, partnering Nicolas Lapierre and Stéphane Richelmi. The team experienced a dominant campaign, winning four races, including three wins in a row and a class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and ended up winning the title. As a result of his impressive debut season, Menezes was selected to drive a Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 car at the post-season rookie test. The American's hot streak continued into 2017, as he took two race wins in the Asian Le Mans Series held during the winter. However, the trio of Menezes, Tung Ho-Pin, and Thomas Laurent missed out on the overall title due to accident damage sustained at the start of the season finale.

For the main 2017 campaign, ahead of which he was upgraded to gold-ranking by the FIA, Menezes returned to Signatech-Alpine for another season of the WEC, this time driving alongside a litany of other drivers throughout the year. Despite scoring three pole positions and five podiums, chief among which being a second successive triumph at the Circuit of the Americas, the team ended up third in the standings.

In 2018, Menezes would not just contest the European Le Mans Series with Algarve Pro Racing alongside Harrison Newey and Ryan Cullen (where the trio finished all six races on their way to ninth in the teams' standings), but also stepped up to the LMP1 class with Rebellion Racing for the 'Super Season' in the WEC. In a truncated LMP1 field, Rebellion stood out as the best of the privateer entries, as Menezes, Thomas Laurent, and Mathias Beche helped the No. 3 squad towards third in the championship. Highlights included an overall podium at the 2018 Le Mans race as well as a win at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, where a disqualification for both Toyota entries handed the win to Menezes and his teammates.

Menezes remained at Rebellion for the 2019–20 WEC season, this time partnering Bruno Senna and LMP1 rookie Norman Nato in the team's sole full-time entry. This campaign saw more success, as the trio managed to win at both Shanghai and Austin, with a runner-up finish at the postponed 24 Hours of Le Mans to boot.

Entering the new Le Mans Hypercar era, Menezes drove for Glickenhaus Racing at the 6 Hours of Monza in 2021, one of just four events the American participated in during the year – the others being appearances in the European Le Mans Series with DragonSpeed USA and G-Drive Racing. Before the 2022 WEC campaign, it was announced that Menezes would join Peugeot Sport for their Hypercar class debut. He made appearances in all three of Peugeot's 2022 races as the team battled technical gremlins.

Menezes and Peugeot entered the WEC season full-time in 2023, as the American joined Nico Müller and Loïc Duval in the No. 94 lineup. Having struggled throughout the year, the team came to the fore at Le Mans, with Menezes taking the lead as the rain came down. Unfortunately, shortly after re-entering the car, Menezes has an incident from the P3, later on the team faced a list of mechanical issues leaving them to finish in 12th-place. At the end of the year, which Menezes ended 11th in the drivers' standings, the American ended his tenure at the French manufacturer.

Racing record

Career summary † As Menezes was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

† As Menezes was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos Points 2011 Interwetten.com Racing Junior Team MNZ1 MNZ2 IMO1 IMO2 PAU1 PAU2 RBR1 RBR2 HUN1 HUN2 LEC1 LEC2 SPA1 SPA2 18th 68

Complete German Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 DC Points 2013 Van Amersfoort Racing OSC11 OSC12 OSC12 SPA1 SPA2 SPA3 NÜR11 NÜR12 NÜR13 SAC1 SAC2 SAC3 LAU11 LAU12 LAU13 NÜR21 NÜR22 NÜR23 LAU21 LAU22 LAU23 OSC21 OSC22 OSC23 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 4th 241

Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 DC Points 2014 Van Amersfoort Racing Volkswagen SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 PAU1 PAU2 PAU3 HUN1 HUN2 HUN3 SPA1 SPA2 SPA3 NOR1 NOR2 NOR3 MSC1 MSC2 MSC3 RBR1 RBR2 RBR3 NÜR1 NÜR2 NÜR3 IMO1 IMO2 IMO3 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 11th 91 2015 Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Volkswagen SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 PAU1 PAU2 PAU3 MNZ1 MNZ2 MNZ3 SPA1 SPA2 SPA3 NOR1 NOR2 NOR3 ZAN1 ZAN2 ZAN3 RBR1 RBR2 RBR3 ALG1 ALG2 ALG3 NÜR1 NÜR2 NÜR3 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 12th 65

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class) Year Entrant Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points 2014 RSR Racing PC Oreca FLM09 Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8. DAY SEB LGA KAN WGL IMS ELK VIR COA PET 59th 1 2015 RSR Racing PC Oreca FLM09 Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8. DAY SEB LGA DET WGL MOS LIM ELK COA PET 23rd 53 2017 3GT Racing GTD Lexus RC F GT3 Lexus 2UR-GSE 5.4 L V8 DAY SEB LBH COA DET WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR LGA 85th 4 Rebellion Racing P Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 PET 35th 23 2018 JDC-Miller MotorSports P Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 DAY SEB LBH MDO DET WGL MOS ELK LGA PET 54th 24 2020 DragonSpeed USA LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 DAY SEB ELK ATL PET LGA SEB 23rd 26

Complete Global RallyCross Championship results GRC Lites

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2016 Signatech Alpine Nicolas Lapierre Stéphane Richelmi Alpine A460-Nissan LMP2 357 5th 1st 2017 Signatech Alpine Matmut Romain Dumas Matt Rao Alpine A470-Gibson LMP2 351 10th 8th 2018 Rebellion Racing Mathias Beche Thomas Laurent Rebellion R13-Gibson LMP1 376 3rd 3rd 2019 Rebellion Racing Nathanaël Berthon Thomas Laurent Rebellion R13-Gibson LMP1 370 5th 5th 2020 Rebellion Racing Norman Nato Bruno Senna Rebellion R13-Gibson LMP1 382 2nd 2nd 2023 Peugeot TotalEnergies Loïc Duval Nico Müller Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar 312 27th 12th

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete European Le Mans Series results Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points 2018 APR - Rebellion Racing LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 LEC MNZ RBR SIL SPA ALG 12th 23.25 2021 DragonSpeed USA LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 CAT RBR LEC MNZ 23rd 10.5 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01 SPA ALG ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.